KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) \u2014 Logan Lednicky had 11 kills, Maddie Waak had 29 assists and Texas A&M won its first NCAA volleyball championship, sweeping Kentucky 3-0 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Aggies (29-4) accomplished the rare feat of defeating three No. 1 seeds. They defeated Nebraska and Pittsburgh earlier in the tournament. They did not drop a set in the Final Four.<\/p>\n
At 24-18 in the third set, Kentucky held off a couple of match points before the Aggies took advantage of a free ball and Cos-Okpalla delivered the championship point, crushing a set from Waak out of the middle.<\/p>\n
Kyndal Stowers finished with 10 kills and hit .304. Cos-Okpalla added eight kills, hitting .235 and Lednicky hit .250.<\/p>\n
Eva Hudson had a match-high 13 kills for Kentucky and Kassie O\u2019Brien had 34 assists.<\/p>\n
The Aggies hit .257 as a team, compared to Kentucky\u2019s .148.<\/p>\n
Set scores were 26-24, 25-15, 25-20.<\/p>\n
The Aggies trailed throughout the first set until they tied it at 20-all and also saved a set point to tie it at 24. The Aggies took their first lead at 25-24 on an attack error by Kentucky’s Brooklyn DeLeye, her fifth of the set. Stowers finished off the 26-24 first-set win for the Aggies with a tip off the Kentucky block.<\/p>\n
After taking that 25-24 lead, the Aggies did not trail at any point in the rest of the match.<\/p>\n
Kentucky (30-3) continued to struggle at the net in the second set. The Wildcats had nine errors in the first set and six more while falling behind 19-9 in the second. The Aggies continued to dominate, winning 25-15 after outhitting their SEC rival .253\u2014.077.<\/p>\n
Stowers and Lednicky had eight kills each in the first two sets, with Stowers hitting .368 and Lednicky .240.<\/p>\n
Texas A&M led 13-10 in the third set before a kill by Lednicky started a 6-1 scoring run for a commanding 19-11 lead, six points from the national championship.<\/p>\n
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